The downside to World Youth Day is the fulfillment of Mary's prophecy at Fatima:

“Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much.”

Make reparation for the sins of WYD. (And these were mild compared to the string bikinis.) Do you know the history of the bikini? When it was introduced in 1946, the designer couldn't get a model to wear it. He had to hire strippers. Now girls strip for free.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Rorate Coeli has a terrific article related to this on the feminization of the liturgy after Vatican II. Very insightful. Here's the beginning:

The correspondence between Cardinal Heenan of Westminster and Evelyn Waugh before the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Mass is well known, in which Waugh issues a crie de coeur about the post-Conciliar liturgy and finds a sympathetic, if ineffectual, ear in the Cardinal.[1] What is not as well known is Cardinal Heenan’s comment to the Synod of Bishops in Rome after the experimental Mass, Missa Normativa, was presented for the first time in 1967 to a select number of bishops. This essay was inspired by the following words of Cardinal Heenan to the assembled bishops:

At home, it is not only women and children but also fathers of families and young men who come regularly to Mass. If we were to offer them the kind of ceremony we saw yesterday we would soon be left with a congregation of women and children.[2]

What the Cardinal was referring to lies at the very heart of the Novus Ordo form of the Roman Mass and the attendant and deep problems that have afflicted the Church since the imposition of the Novus Ordo form on the Church in 1970.[3] One might be tempted to crystallize what Cardinal Heenan experienced as the feminization of the Liturgy. But this term would be inadequate and ultimately misleading. Read the rest here.

And if you want to explore this topic even more check out Leon Podles book, The Church Impotent. A big thank you to Leon Podles for making this book available on his website at no cost.

Read the Passion narratives in the Gospel. Jesus was a MAN, a man, in fact, who suffered extreme torture and death to save us from our sins. He was a manual laborer as well and he walked from one end of Israel to the other seeking the lost sheep. The ascetic Jesus on the girly holy cards is a figment of the imagination. May God bless us with holy shepherds in the real image of Jesus Christ, the God-Man!

This really hit home because the baby's has the same name as a niece of mine who had a little one born with a serious problem. Thank God none of the doctors recommended killing my sick grand niece so her parents didn't have to deal with the stress of that on top of the baby's condition. She is doing well and just celebrated her first birthday. Thank you, God, for pro-life parents who aren't afraid to say yes and fight for their little ones. Welcome, Baby Abigail and a big congratulations to your parents! We'll be praying that you continue to do well in the weeks and months ahead.

Monday, July 29, 2013

I confess, the thought of Terry McAuliffe as Virginia's Governor makes me want to vomit. Here are some quotes from the man who takes the typical Democratic approach to fund raising: Got Big Money? Name your Prize. His selling luncheons with the president and rides on Air Force One remind me of Clinton selling the Lincoln bedroom for a price. Keep in mind that Federal employees may not accept "gifts" from contractors, etc. How come the highest federal employee in the land can accept money by selling access? It stinks. But here's McAuliffe demonstrating in his own words how ethically challenged he is:

"Did I ever ring anyone and say that for $50,000 you can have lunch with the President? Or, for whatever, you can fly on Air Force One? Yes, I did - thousands of times! And so what?”

What can Pope Francis be thinking? Do we really need to heat up the battle between those devoted to the ancient Mass and those who prefer the Novus Ordo? Why should those folks who want the Mass the martyrs died for always be treated like the ugly step children? I rarely attend the Tridentine (TLM) form, but I do not understand the pounding those who do are subjected to. Please Lord, have mercy on us. Pope Benedict said the TLM was never abrogated and that priests don't need permission to say it. Was he wrong? Don't we have enough issues to fight without bringing the battle into the Church? More prayers please.

The bishops don't seem to mind acting like kids, which, frankly, I don't mind. The adults at our family retreats (even the men and the priests) had a great time doing the motions to His Banner Over Me is Love. What I DO mind is having the laity having NO luck getting most bishops to act like men and discipline pro-abortion politicians..... It's a lot easier to act like kindergartners playing ring around the rosy which is NOT the duty of a bishop than to "teach, govern, and sanctify" which IS.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

"The House on Friday rejected a Democratic proposal to allow nonreligious chaplains to serve nonreligious service members in the military....'What my amendment would simply do is allow chaplains who are certified or ordained, secular humanists and ethical culturalists or atheists, to also be able to support the brave men and women who serve in our military,' Polis said.... But the GOP-led House was able to defeat the amendment in a 150-274 vote. Every Republican voted against it, and they were joined by 44 Democrats."

Well, at least we can say that 44 Democrats haven't gone completely over to the dark side. By the way,

Friday, July 26, 2013

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 26, 2013 / 09:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Marking the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, during his Angelus address today Pope Francis said the transmission of faith takes places first and foremost in the home and among families.

“Saints Joachim and Anne were part of a long chain of people who had transmitted their love for God, expressed in the warmth and love of family life, down to Mary, who received the Son of God in her womb and who gave him to the world, to us,” Pope Francis told World Youth Day pilgrims on July 26.

“How precious is the family as the privileged place for transmitting the faith!” Read more...

Another scandal from a Catholic charity, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) (not the first I might add). It's important to realize that many of the big Catholic charities have become nothing but conduits for transferring taxpayer dollars to the third world, often with the same agenda held by the population controllers running the U.S. They can "sell" their evil much easier in Catholic countries by using a "Catholic" agency to do the dirty. And Catholic Relief Services has shown themselves happy to oblige.

Sad to say, you cannot trust most of the big Catholic charities: Cartholic Relief Services (CRS) is up to its neck in promoting the anti-life message in the third world. Catholic Charities (CC) scandals abound, and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) sends one third to one half of money collected to Alinsky organizing groups that do their darnedest to undermine the faith and elect politicians diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching. And how do the bishops respond to criticism of these horrendous abuses? They attack the messengers. Very sad.

My suggestion is hold on to your wallet and give to organizations that you have really vetted. If you know a missionary priest in a foreign land who is doing good work, support him! If you have a local Catholic community outreach group that you work with, support it! But don't keep pouring money into these "Catholic" organizations that use your donations to do evil or act as money laundering groups for the death-dealing feds. God help us when we can't trust the princes of the Church to mind the store, but that, unfortunately, is where we are.

Today is the feast day of Sts. Joachim and Ann, the parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus. What a happy day it was when Ann conceived "our tainted nature's solitary boast." All you grandparents out there, what a great day to tell your grandchildren about Mary's grandparents. Read about them here. Why not send your grandchildren a postcard or letter today telling them you are praying for them on this special day that reminds us how important grandparents are in the life of the family.

We're celebrating and rejoicing today that God has blessed us with 21 (so far) grandchildren. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

This would be hilarious if it weren't so pathetic! The pro-abortion crowd loves this kind of ignorance. Never sign a petition unless you know exactly what you are signing and who is requesting your signature!

Planned Parenthood and other population control/anti-natalist organizations would like you to believe that Plan B is a contraceptive. They are so serious about misleading women that they call Plan B emergency contraception. One problem: evidence indicates that it's not a contraceptive at all, but an abortifacient.

Should one laugh or cry over the Anthony Wiener sexting farce? The Drudge Report describes the media attention as "balls to the wall coverage" linking to a Variety article. Their lead headline at present is "an erection update" linking to a New York Times piece. The story is reality TV material -- NYC in the raw. It reminds me of a movie review of Bloom in Love I saw years ago with WTOP's film critic, Davey Marlin-Jones. He called the film the "slickest of the sickies" where "rape heals all wounds." If not rape, adultery, abortion, pornography, government-sponsored fornication: the perfect candidate for the Democrats' party platform.

Watching the Anthony Wiener farce, I keep hearing that phrase, "slickest of the sickies," cycle in my head. There Wiener is at another press conference with his humiliated wife standing by her man... ah..."Once more into the fray...." And what has happened in the election polls since Wiener's sick behavior was exposed? He's shot to the lead and now holds 25% of the electorate. That's NYC for you, a city that never fails to reward corruption.

A sick candidate for a sick city, perhaps the slickest of the sick cities, the big rotten apple!

Hmm...I don't think she was really a "plant." This gal showed up at the Zimmerman rally but, when asked by a Breitbart reporter, openly declared her sign was a sarcastic slam at the Zimmerman supporters. It's pretty obvious in the Breitbart video that she's with a Trayvon Martin supporter in a hoodie. It was the media that linked her to the Zimmerman group including the New York Daily News and the London Daily Mail. Well, hey, anyone who disagrees with the liberal agenda must be a racist right? If you voted against white black Obama you're a racist too. There is no such thing as a principled conservative, only racist, homophobic, intolerant, fanatical, ugly right-wing zealots. Ho hum!

It's unclear to me from reading several articles whether Renee Vaughan was actually trying to infiltrate and demonize the Zimmerman supporters or whether the media just saw what they expected and ran with it to discredit the rally. Was it a stupid, irresponsible media mistake? Or was it a deliberate slander?

At any rate, many media outlets reported Vaughan among Zimmerman's supporters. Shame on them! She wasn't! Read more here and here.

I never apologize for the Catholic Church's teaching on human life and love. The Church's condemnation of artificial birth control is morally correct and a life-affirming doctrine. NFP is not "Catholic birth control," but a way of life that respects and honors the "word" of love spoken between a man and woman. And the proof of God's blessing is evident in the outcome.

Those who practice contraception have high rates of divorce; 96% of NFP couples stay together. Contracepting couples also have higher rates of suicide, breast cancer, and sexual dysfunction. When you defy the natural law, results are rarely positive.

Chemical contraceptives are poison; most are also abortifacient. Not only do they damage women, but "endocrine disrupting chemicals" (EDCs) which are also used in fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) have a broader impact on the population and the environment. Many of the articles on EDCs don't mention hormonal birth control (It's not politically correct.), but the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's research arm, acknowledged as early as 1997 that birth control drugs fit into that class of chemicals:

Monday, July 22, 2013

My husband and I taught NFP at Providence Hospital in Washiington, D.C. for about fifteen years. We met many couples who were having fertility problems and were looking for help to achieve a pregnancy. We were thrilled when they did. One client told me the fertility specialist asked her where she "learned to chart like that." Another couple who came to our class ended up training to be teachers themselves. He was a D.C. minister and told his wife if they came and got an anti-baby message they were outa there. (Must have heard about Margaret Sanger's plan to eliminate blacks.) They came up to us after class and said they were sold when we introduced ourselves, said we had five children, and emphasized that NFP was about "planning to HAVE families."

Even the Washington Post couldn't excuse TM's bald-faced lie in last week's debate when he said that Ken Cuccinelli committed illegal financial acts. But that just makes McAuliffe a typical lying, liberal politician. Worse than that lie is his scandalous pretense to be a Catholic. Like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, he waves the "I am a devout Catholic" flag while vigorously supporting the murder of children and advancing the homosexual agenda. He attends St. Luke's in McLean and, according to a source there, tried to get himself appointed an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, but his services were refused, thank God.

Think of the chutzpah of such a request! The man should be excommunicated along with other pro-abortion Catholic politicians who do more to kill babies

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Read about Margaret of Costello who would be a great patron for Lizzie! She's one of my favorite saints. Margaret was born blind, humpbacked, with major physical deformities. She was less blessed than Lizzie whose parents loved her. Margaret's parents took her to a shrine hoping for a miraculous cure and when she wasn't cured they abandoned her in a strange city. Poor girl. She always made excuses for them. What a grace-filled young woman she must have been - like Lizzie. Think about all the "beautiful people" who live lives committed to selfishness and evil. You wonder if there's a picture in the attic showing all their corruption. Then there's Lizzie who, like Mother Teresa, may be lacking in physical beauty, but shines with the light of Christ! May God shower her with blessings and bless everyone who hears her speak.

...who could have been talking about all the rabble rousers and race baiters at the NAACP like Al Sharpton when he made the statement below. They are the real bigots who want to keep blacks on the liberal plantation pimping for money and power by playing the race card ad infinitum.

Did you know the NAACP rejected black conservative groups from their national convention? It doesn't fit their agenda. And I wonder...do you think black youth are taught anything about these black heroes like Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver? How about modern black heroes and role models like Clarence Thomas, Ben Carson, Mia Love, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Allen West, Alveda Washington, Star Parker, etc.? Somehow...I really doubt it!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Here's what Jessie Jackson said to New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in 1993 which was quoted in the paper on 12/12/93:

‘There is nothing more painful to me at this stage of my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”

Painful or not, Jessie Jackson knew, just as Pastor Manning knows, that if the person on a dark street with you is a young black man in a hoodie, your suspicion and uneasiness ARE REASONABLE.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Speaking of creative entrepreneurs, I have a daughter and daughter-in-law who have their own little businesses with wonderful creative items. If you are looking for something special for a birthday, or a really unique Halloween costume check out Tutu Turtledoves. I love the little aprons that transform a little girl into a princess. They can be worn longer than a dress and can easily travel and be off or on in a jiffy. And what fun to have an assortment and invite some little friends over for a "dress up tea party." Here's a pretty Cinderella dressed for the ball.

And how about some special hair accessories that remind you of your favorite saint? Pepita Bananas offers beautiful hairbows perfect for a little girl's baptism or First Communion. Thinking Christmas in July? Here's one for your favorite Pepita's stocking. Happy shopping!

My husband and I will have our own little entrepreneurship activity after we harvest our honey on Saturday. We plan to sell not only local honey, but I'll be making some beeswax lip balm. I've already experimented with two batches and have a good recipe for starters. I'm not sure we'll ever recoup our investment in the bee business, but we're having fun and our worker bees aren't unionized and ask only a small sugar salary over the winter and when the summer nectar flow stops. If you're ever in Woodstock, stop at Camp Kreitzer and we'll introduce you to "the girls."

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Check it out here. The bill goes into effect in October and is expected to close most Texas abortion mills. One reason is that it requires abortionists to have hospital privileges and levies the same type of regulations that cover other free-standing surgical clinics. About time, I'd say. Abortion has been mostly unregulated for 40 years leaving women at the mercy of unscrupulous abortionists, most of whom are the bottom feeders of the medical profession. Many abortionists are circuit riders often flying in from another state, hence they have no hospital connections.

Two thumbs up, Texas! And a special thanks to my son and daughter-in-law who live in Austin and spent several days at the capitol with other the blue-clad pro-lifers defending babies waiting to be born and mothers who are often coerced and manipulated into having abortions. Thanks Neil and Martina, for being there to defend life! Women in Texas will be safer and fewer babies will die agonizing deaths at the hands of legal front alley butchers.

No, I thought you wouldn't. The liberal media that ran article after article after article on the priestly sex abuse cases keeping the heat on for months and even years, can't be bothered to make public school sex abuse a national issue. Stories generally appear for five minutes in local media and then, POOF, disappear into the ether. After all....wrong narrative.

Any sex abuse of children no matter who the perpetrators are is diabolical, but it's interesting that the only sex abuse the liberal media bother to notice, with more than a curt nod, are those involving priests, not any priests of course, Catholic priests. Now why is it that the media are so uninterested in the public school problem which is 100 times worse than what happened in Catholic dioceses around the country according to the U.S. Department of Education? Check it out here and here and read the 2004 Shakeshaft Study here. Check out a summary of the study here. According to study author, Carol Shakeshaft, 9.6% of public school children are abused between kindergarten and 12th grade. That's almost one in ten children. Are your kids in public schools? Better read the study.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

I think I gotta get this book! The left is more racist than the right. Their "entire demeanor is condescending." Blacks can't do anything for themselves. Only a black could say these things. And thank God he's saying them. "We're all Americans." Thank you, Erik Rush!

On Thursday, July 11, police discovered the rotting body of 17-year-old Darryl Green, a black child from the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. Green’s body was found behind a boarded-up house in the 6500-block of South Damen, face down on basement stairs. The body was so badly decomposed that originally, local news reports suggested that he had died of blunt force trauma. On Friday, an autopsy showed he had been shot to death. Relatives reported that Green had refused to join a gang at school.

Tristan Breaux, head of the Norfolk NAACP, is under fire for telling the truth about Trayvon Martin's "shaky past." Here's an article about it. Breaux sounds like a man with a sense of honesty who wanted to pour oil on the water and not inflame already hot passions. He is being lambasted for telling the truth with many calling for his resignation. What does that tell you about the agenda here?

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Liberals would be perfectly happy to destroy the rule of law. They didn't get what they wanted in the Zimmerman trial from our rule of law soooooo..... I tried to find a clip of the jury scene in A Man for All Seasons. The jury is about to leave the courtroom to deliberate, when Cromwell stops them saying they certainly can come to a decision right there and then. And, of course, like the Catholic bishops who gave Henry what he wanted to keep their heads attached to their bodies, the jury does the same. Is that what will happen the next time we see a Zimmerman-Martin type altercation?

I'm not a fan of hard rock but the lyrics of this song are exactly where we are, "If you listen to fools, the mob rules." I recommend you turn down the sound on this horrible video and just read the lyrics.

Cui bone? Who benefits from mob rule? Not the mob that's for sure because chaos always ends in tyranny, and tyrants couldn't care less about the mob that brought them to power? Study the French Revolution and one of its greatest critics, Edmund Burke, who championed the rule of law. Sadly, the U.S. is beginning to resemble Paris in 1789 more than Philadelphia in 1776. George Zimmerman is a victim of a new reign of terror replacing the rule of law with mob vengeance. I pray he will not be murdered, but what American in his right mind doesn't see that as a possibility?

Well, she couldn't get a conviction in a court of law because there was no evidence to sustain it. So now Prosecutor Angela Corey is trying George Zimmerman in the media. Calling him a "murderer" on prime time TV has earned her the scorn of lawyers including well-known Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz:

"[George Zimmerman] probably has a defamation action against her. She has no immunity as a prosecutor for appearing on television and if I were his lawyer I would think seriously about bringing a defamation lawsuit against her." [See more here.]

Zimmerman and his parents are in hiding after numerous death threats.

And Zimmerman's acquittal like that of the LAPD police officers in the Rodney King case a decade ago, is the excuse for some to loot and riot and attack innocent people for having the wrong skin color. Remember Reginald Denny who was dragged from his truck and nearly beaten to death?

Monday, July 15, 2013

Just think, 80% of kids with Downs are murdered before birth. What a sad hole would have been left in the world without Tim. If you know a pregnant mom with an in utero diagnosis of a child with Downs, send her this article and video. The world doesn't need more Ph.D.'s. It needs more Tims!

"I am so old that I can remember when most of the people promoting race hate were white.”

Thomas Sowell is one of my favorite commentators. He's honest, articulate, and....ironic as this quote illustrates. I found his quote at the end of an article about a white man, Joshua Chellew, beat up and left unconscious in a busy street by four black men. They walked away and he was hit by a car and killed. It happened in the midst of the Zimmerman trial, but I'll bet you haven't heard of this black on white crime. Al Sharpton sure isn't calling for a civil rights investigation to ensure the white man wasn't profiled and targeted because of his race. No...only whites can be guilty of racially motivated hate crimes.

Now what if the races had been reversed and the three attackers were white and Chellew black. It would be front page news for weeks. But Joshua Chellew won't get even 15 minutes of fame. As the author of the article pointed out:

[I]f Chellew had been able to defend himself against one or all of [his assailants] he’d be the new George Zimmerman. We’d be seeing baby pictures of his attackers. Al Sharpton would be marching. Jay Carney would be filibustering away all questions about Obama’s latest race-baiting. MSNBC would be on full alert.

But Chellew wasn’t able to defend himself. He probably deserved it, right? I mean, just look at him. You can’t get any whiter than that.

The world depicts St. Francis as a namby-pamby nature lover, but there's a lot more to the saint than that. He had a deep understanding of the nature of sin and the great danger to souls caught in its grip. In his Canticle of the Creatures he wrote:

Praised be You, my Lord, for our sister bodily death, whom no living man can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin, blessed those whom she will find in Your most holy will, for the second death will not harm them.

Mortal sin kills the grace of God in the souls of His creation. No one who dies in the state of unrepented mortal sin can go to heaven. What is mortal sin and what is necessary to commit one?

I spent about an hour last night watching live coverage after the Zimmerman acquittal. Some of it made me shake my head. We live today in a world where virtual reality is the norm. Many people don't appear to care about the truth; only about their own perceptions (no matter how unhinged from reality) and about their feelings.

The Zimmerman trial brought that to the fore in a way that is baffling and head-shaking. The trial was NEVER about race and yet demagogues of racial division, like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton and even the lawyers for the Martin family, continuously beat the racial bigotry drum. So a young man with a history of mentoring black kids, a man who was virtually the ONLY person to champion the rights of a homeless black man assaulted by a white cop's adult son, was portrayed as a monster of evil who hated blacks and stalked Trayvon with intent to kill. It was a script from the Twilight Zone, one that evidence presented by the prosecution could not sustain. The verdict was correct. There was no way a jury presented with the facts of the case could convict. There wasn't only "reasonable doubt" that he was guilty; a conclusion of guilt would have been unreasonable!

The thing I found most offensive last night as I watched the post trial coverage was one of the Martin family's lawyers claiming, once again, that it was a civil rights issue. The man actually compared Trayvon Martin to Medgar Evers, the civil rights activist assassinated outside his Mississippi home by a white supremacist in 1963. I found that comparison so unreal and so offensive that the Twilight Zone music began playing in my head.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Despite all the efforts of the Justice Department, the liberal judge, and the unethical behavior of prosecution lawyers, the six women on the jury found George Zimmerman not guilty. Pray for everyone involved. I imagine Twitter is filled with threats right now against George Zimmerman's life. Hopefully, police will take action against those who threaten to react violently to the outcome of the trial. Pray for peace.

The Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman tragedy is drawing to a conclusion, but it will never be ended and there will be no "winners." If George Zimmerman goes free, as he should since the prosecution never presented a case that upholds second degree murder (or even the manslaughter charge thrown in at the last moment), there are likely to be riots. A community already suffering from the sad events of that fateful night will be further ravaged. If Zimmerman is found guilty, it will be a real perversion of justice since all of the evidence supports Zimmerman's story that he was attacked and in fear for his life when he shot Martin. But I can't imagine that he doesn't wish with all his heart that somebody else was patrolling the community for Neighborhood Watch that night.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Obscenity? Grotesque behavior? Blasphemous and obscene signs held by children? Assaulting police? Legislators and their staff threatened? Obama egging on the protesters? (No surprise there: that's what Alinsky community organizing is all about!) Advertising on Craig's List to hire the "Hail Satan" crowd?

The mask is off. These people are sick and evil. Pray for them. They not only advocate killing children in the womb, they pervert their own children. Pray for the poor innocents! Pray that Texas finally passes this bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks and require abortion mills to meet the same standards other free standing surgical clinics have to meet. After all, if abortion mills are as unregulated as illegal abortions were, we've just moved the coat hangars from the back alley to the unregulated legal butcher shop! But that's what the pro-abortionists want - unregulated abortion, abortion by non-physicians, abortion on demand without apology, abortion as a sacred sacrament. And if it takes bringing down the rule of law through mob action like screaming and yelling on the floor to prevent legislators from voting, they'll do it! It's a battle and Texas is the current battleground. Which side do you see yourself on? The feces and urine and tampon throwers? The Hail Satan chanters? The perverters of childhood innocence? Or do you stand with the law of God that says "You shall not kill?" Please make acts of reparation for the horrendous acts of the pro-aborts at the Texas capitol.

Interesting that pro-abortion extremists (like the ones in Texas) who have been screaming and verbally assaulting pro-lifers are NEVER labeled domestic terrorists by our liberal government. And they actually KILL people or advocate the killing, mostly in the womb. But some of those terrorists, like Kermit Gosnell and Douglas Karpen, don't mind a little neck slitting or wringing if the newborns happen to be unwanted.

What are you thinking about right now? I'm thinking about harvesting honey. We didn't think we'd get any this year, but it looks like we will after all. What fun! Check it out and see one of the busy little workers in my garden. I commented to our mentor today that I can't imagine a beekeeper not believing in God. The design and plan of the honeybee colony sure affirm my wonderment at His divine providence!

And our back yard is flowing with honey. This is the way the hive looked in June, but the population has exploded since then and we have girls flying everywhere. They must be downtown girls, because we see them flying toward Woodstock when they leave the hive. Right now nothing in the yard seems to appeal to their taste. They liked the lavender, but it's finished. I thought they'd go for the butterfly bush and the white clover, but they must like something else better because I haven't seen a single bee on any of those flowers.

My friend, Jane, was deeply disturbed by a front page article in the Arlington Catholic Herald (7/2/13) depicting an ecumenical service at the diocesan Cathedral of St. Thomas More where Buddhists, Muslims, and Protestants all prayed in their traditions for religious liberty. The picture in the Herald appears to have an open tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament removed (Thank God!), but the event contributes to the widespread belief that all religions are the same (syncrectism). See my comments and links after Jane's letter.

Open Letter to Bishop Loverde about His Fortnight of Freedom at St. Thomas More Cathedral

Freedom? Liberty?

Sorry, no. Neither was honored at this event. Truth was discredited. The sanctuary was desecrated. Christ was offended. The cathedral should be re-consecrated.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

We're not far behind our northern neighbor. Watch what's likely to be coming down the pike and over the border. With all the homosexual and transgender nonsense going on, can this insanity be far behind?

The NEA's annual meeting was held last week in Atlanta. Every year the NEA passes resolutions that have nothing to do with education and everything to do with social engineering. This year is no different with the NEA supporting widespread abortion, school based birth control clinics, and advocacy of the gay agenda. According to an article at LifeSiteNews:

The NEA has promoted a radical sexual agenda worldwide, with one spokesman telling a United Nations panel, “Oral sex, masturbation, and orgasms need to be taught in education.”

At 2011’s Commission on the Status of Women, NEA spokesman Diane Schneider advocated for more “inclusive” sex education in US schools, with curricula based on liberal hetero and homosexual expression.

While they're busy teaching our kids how to masturbate and engage in oral sex,

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

There was a "gay" bookstore called Lobo's in Austin, Texas, when I was living there as a grad student. The layout was interesting. Looking inside from the street all you saw were books. It looked like any other bookstore. There was a section devoted to classic "gay" fiction by writers such as Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, and W.H. Auden. There were biographies of prominent "gay" icons, some of whom, like Walt Whitman, would probably have accepted the homosexual label, but many of whom, like Whitman's idol, President Lincoln, had been commandeered for the cause on the basis of evidence no stronger than a bad marriage or an intense same-sex friendship. There were impassioned modern "gay" memoirs, and historical accounts of the origins and development of the "gay rights" movement.

Respectability – "a front for the porn"

It all looked so innocuous and disarmingly bourgeois. But if you went inside to browse, before long you noticed another section, behind the books, a section not visible from the street. The pornography section. Hundreds and hundreds of pornographic videos, all involving men, but otherwise catering to every conceivable sexual taste or fantasy. And you would notice something else too. There were no customers in the front. All the customers were in the back, rooting through the videos. As far as I know, I am the only person who ever actually purchased a book at Lobo's. The books were, in every sense of the word, a front for the porn.So why waste thousands of dollars on books that no one was going to buy? It was clear from the large "on sale" section that only a pitifully small number of books were ever purchased at their original price. The owners of Lobo's were apparently wasting a lot of money on gay novels and works of gay history, when all the real money was in pornography. But the money spent on books wasn't wasted. It was used to purchase a commodity that is more precious than gold to the gay rights establishment. Respectability. Respectability and the appearance of normalcy. Without that investment, we would not now be engaged in a serious debate about the legalization of same-sex "marriage." By the time I lived in Austin, I had been thinking of myself as a gay man for almost 20 years. Based on the experience acquired during those years, I recognized in Lobo's a metaphor for the strategy used to sell gay rights to the American people, and for the sordid reality that strategy concealed. Read more here.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Une femme who lives in Northern Virginia whom I've been soliciting to write for the blog sent me this article about a local parish near her home. I couldn't agree more with what she has to say. Clergy are the leaders. If they fail to lead, using wishy-washy speak, or lead in the wrong direction, they do serious damage to the faith. Here's a parish that has a movie night, but the pastor couldn't do one single thing to participate in the bishops' Fortnight for Freedom. No surprise. This is a typical "social justice" parish that follows the world's definitions instead of the Church's. So social justice means community organizing in the image of Saul Alinsky. Now the pastor could have connected Fortnight for Freedom by choosing a good movie that illustrates what happens to a country when it has a corrupt government? For Greater Glory would be an ideal choice with a little talk before hand. Shame on you, Father, and for all the milquetoast statements in your bulletin letter that imply that Church doctrine is just a matter of opinion!

WHEN PASTORS FAIL TO LEAD
by Chriss Rainey

On June 23, in a Catholic church bulletin in Reston, VA, there appeared under the heading: "From the Pastor" a letter I believe underscores one of the greatest enemies of our faith, tacit accommodation of our clergy who thereby fail to lead us with the truth.

The priest began by acknowledging the fact "we are in the midst of the second annual call from our Bishops for a program called Fortnight for Freedom--two weeks of prayer and action to protect religious freedom." And then he said, "We have not scheduled any specific activities for the parish as a whole, simply because we find scheduling these events does not generate a great deal of presence.

My dad and mom were serious Catholics. Mom often went to daily Mass and I don't remember my parents EVER skipping Sunday Mass even once when I was growing up except for childbirth or serious illness. Every Sunday we were out of the house and in the car to arrive for Mass a little early where we filled an entire pew. Everyone dressed in Sunday best to meet mom and dad's approval: no blue jeans, shorts, message t-shirts, etc. The girls mostly wore dresses and skirts (and head coverings) and the boys were in dress pants. We attended the Tridentine Mass because that WAS the Catholic Mass until 1965 when I was in college and away from home except for summers.

After Mass Daddy took us all to the bakery, a Sunday tradition, where everyone clamored for our favorite goodies. The little ones liked to pull the ticket from the machine and we all waited eagerly to hear our number called. I'm sure the bakery owner LOVED seeing us coming! We exited in triumph with bags and boxes of powdered jelly and glazed doughnuts, elephant ears, assorted danish (cheese were my favorite), crullers and cinammon twists, and something chocolate. Each of us could have three choices for breakfast - talk about a sugar high! But we all loved it and looked forward to the Sunday bakery run. To this day, a powdered, raspberry filled doughnut triggers childhood nostalgia.

I have an anonymous, presumably gay, reader whose style I've come to recognize by his hate-filled personal attacks. (Of course, there may be more than one. The styles of radical gay apologists are boringly alike.) I stopped posting his comments awhile back and things got quiet, but what an eyeful of hate I've received since last night with five comments that speak for themselves. I decided to post them as an illustration of the kind of vilification a person can expect if he or she dares to disagree with and expose the gay agenda:

...a far reaching one at that as you can see from their 1972 Platform. They've achieved most of what they outlined in 1972 with a complicit media and help from immoral liberal politicians. And, yes, they ARE after your children. Note the platform items in red. If you love your children, fight for them!

The 1972 Gay Rights Platform
Platform created at the National Coalition of Gay Organizations Convention held in Chicago in 1972

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Two Christian street preachers felt the wrath of the "gay" community for daring to warn them to "Repent, or Else." Now that warning is pretty mild compared to what St. Paul says about homosexual relations, but, hey, any criticism of the "gay" lifestyle is intolerable. So it's okay for "gays" to be intolerant of intolerance and beat up somebody who ticks them off. We've seen it before. But isn't it touching how their tolerant buddies came to the rescue cheering on the guys conducting the beating.

Well, somebody finally did pull the attackers off. And thank God for videos. Looks like the two guys involved will be charged. The lead beater is no stranger to the jailhouse. He has a rap sheet a mile long. Don't you wish he was your neighbor?

Another day, another pridefest. You can see how proud they are of their tolerance!

People throw around the word "conscience" these days using it to justify all kinds of immorality. Nancy Pelosi claims a conscience right to call abortion "sacred ground." Many a cafeteria Catholic justifies contraceptive use saying she's "following her conscience." How many Catholics have abandoned their marriage vows following their consciences? In all these cases the definition of conscience seems to be, "whatever sin I want to enjoy I can choose as long as I claim to be doing it with a good conscience" -- which is actually a bad conscience. Give me an honest sinner any day, one like St. Augustine who asked the Lord to make him chaste...but not yet. Yes, it's hard to set aside our sinful desires to follow God's will. Why else would Jesus call it the narrow way that's hard to follow? St. John Bosco saw the path to heaven in a dream. It was filled with rocks and thorns. How easy can we expect the journey to be when we see the uphill road to Golgotha and the God-Man nailed to the cross there?

Friday, July 5, 2013

I know somebody will comment that they have no problem with the police violating this young man's rights and that he was just asking for it by not lowering the window. But the reality is that the Constitution protects citizens from this type of police action. How far should we go in cooperating with unconstitutional searches. When they bang down your door and demand you leave your home with your hands in the air like they did in Boston, will you think it's justified? How about when they demand entry to your home to search for and confiscate your legal firearms. America is moving toward a police state. It's time to stop rolling over and playing dead or we may be! I was the victim of an unconstitutional action myself at an abortion mill in Alexandria. I didn't sue the police department but I could have and they knew it. Pray for our poor country!

As I was writing out a birthday card for one of my children whose birthday is tomorrow, I reflected on where we were the year she was turning six. My parents always had a 4th of July pool party at their home in Elkridge and we were all gathered there in 1985 as usual. In fact, more people were on hand than usual. Two of my aunts and uncles came and several of my cousins -- to say good-bye to my dad who was dying of cancer.

I had been camping out on the sofa for a few days so I could help Mom care for Daddy and, as I sat with him, I was sewing the details on the fabric body of my little girl's birthday present, a "Cabbage Patch" look-alike doll. She was blonde haired like my daughter and a much-longed for gift.

Daddy was on a lot of painkillers so he slept a lot while I sewed at his bedside. We would chit chat infrequently about nothing when he was awake. I think he commented on the doll and I showed it to him. I was sculpting the fingers and toes and belly button. I really don't remember anything specific except being there, just being present in case he needed anything. At one point Daddy thought death was imminent and we called the parish and Father came. Then Daddy apologized profusely for not dying and sending out a false alarm. It was touchingly funny. We kept having to assure him that it was okay. Father did not mind.

When Daddy died the next day, it was quietly. We had convinced my mom to go out to dinner with my aunts and uncles. Daddy was still alert enough to be up. In fact, he was sitting in a chair at the side of the bed with his head resting on the bedside. My sister Peggy and I were sitting on either side of him rubbing his back gently and talking quietly. And then we realized he wasn't breathing. When we lifted him up, the blood had already begun to pool at the contact point on his forehead. We called the hospice nurse who came over and helped us arrange his body in the bed and we called all my local siblings. When mom returned from dinner we were praying the rosary together gathered in a circle around Daddy. We had to reassure my mom that it was okay not to be there, that the dying often wait to go until the person closest to them is not there - to spare them perhaps.

So many memories of that time crowd in on me: my nine-year-old niece stroking Daddy's head shortly after he died saying, "Grandpa looks so peaceful," my sisters and I all snipping off bits of Daddy's hair at the wake, the funeral at the Naval Academy on that brilliant, hot July day, two dear family friends concelebrating Mass with the Academy chaplain, the pain of the last good-bye to a dearly loved father.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of good parents who pass on the faith.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of my dad, Raymond John, today. May he rest in peace.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

My mom was adopted. She never knew anything about her birth parents. In fact, she didn't find out she was adopted until after she was married and having a family of her own. But I sometimes think about what would have happened if my mother's birth mother had aborted her. Who would be missing on this planet? Me and my nine brothers and sisters, my five children and 21 grandchildren and all the children and grandchildren of my siblings. (I've lost count of the accumulated total of nieces, nephews, and grand nieces and nephews, but it's a lot!)

Abortion doesn't just murder a child; it murders a family. Who knows how many people would have descended from that one individual? If he were Abraham, his killer would have been responsible for the annihilation of offspring like the sand on the seashore or the stars in the sky.

We will never know the toll of abortion until we stand before God at the end of time and learn all things. But it's sobering to reflect on the loss. Each of those children was important in God's plan and so were their descendants. The death knell reverberates down through the generations!

Pray that couples who killed their babies by abortion and all the family members involved in the decision come to repentance so they can have peace. The only place that peace can occur is in the endless mercy of God's love and forgiveness. "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." Abortion is a horror and a tragedy. Pray and work for its end!

Lady Liberty is under direct assault from liberal mobs who don't give a hoot for law except to use it as a bludgeon to target those who disagree with them. Hence we have Obamacare pounding people of conscience and federal and local laws designed to suppress dissent and deny reality.

Instead of living in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we are living in the land of the over-regulated and the home of the wimps. What must our Founding Fathers think of the California law that allows "transgendered" people to use restrooms, showers, locker rooms, etc. that correspond to the way they feeeeeeel instead of the biological reality of who they are. Feeling like a woman will NEVER turn a biological male into a biological female. Little boys will still be little boys no matter how many tutus hang in the closet or how many operations disfigure their bodies.

Sadly, this Independence Day can be summed up by describing America as a land where citizens have the independence to believe and legislate any nonsense no matter how unreal or untruthful. In this new, improved (according to liberals) country, everything is up for grabs and each individual can create his own reality based on...whatever! Our new national motto has changed from In God We Trust to In (fill in the blank) I trust. As for the former motto E Pluribus Unum (From Many, One), that has degeneration to From many, even more. We no longer have a common language; we no longer hold common beliefs. The country is unraveling while bobble-headed liberals tell us we are getting better and better. Ah...if only it were true!

But, as the Christophers say, it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Each of us is responsible to be a light in his own family and community. Like the glorious little sparks of light in the June sky, each of us can be like the little firefly who twinkles in the night. Darkness can never overcome the light, because darkness is nothing! It is simply the absence of light. So each time one of us lights up, darkness is defeated. And while many serve the darkness, like the Texas pro-aborts chanting, "Hail, Satan!", they are doomed to ultimate defeat because they serve an already-vanquished prince. May they change allegiances before they share his doom!

So light your lamp and place it on the lampstand to give light to all in the house. And when you watch the fireworks tonight, remember to shine your glorious light of Christian truth and love for all the world to see. Will you pray the rosary today for our country and push back the darkness? That's my plan.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Tomorrow we celebrate the anniversary of our independence from Britain. It's an ironic holiday, I think, in view of the even more dangerous threats we face today. King George was a failure as a tyrant compared to our own personal Emperor in the White House aided and abetted by his liberal mobs from the unions and Planned Parenthood. Yes, the fact is that liberal mob rule, not the rule of law, is becoming the order of the day.

Want a demonstration? Check out Texas this week and the battle over the bill to ban abortions of babies who feel pain SB 5. The mobs instigated by Planned Parenthood have taken over the state capitol.with near riots, screaming and yelling, chanting, "Hail Satan," (My daughter-in-law who was there reported that!) and threatening to storm the senate floor. Several days ago, the mob in the gallery was so disruptive that legislators could not vote. Cecile Richards, head of Planned Parenthood, has been tweeting to her supporters to make more noise. Yup, gotta shout down those legislators defending the silent cries of babies, the babies having their spinal columns snipped and their heads twisted off by compassionate abortionists who "care" about women.

On this 4th of July pray hard. Pray that the mob committed to lust and murder (They always go together.) will experience the grace of conversion and help us restore this country to our founders principles, principles that began with protection LIFE. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Live comes first. Everything else depends on it. If you want peace and justice, defend life!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Tell me again why you favor homosexual adoption. Let me say it once more. Homosexuals represent about 3% of the population but commit about a third of sex crimes against children. See here. Today's Mass reading was the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah for their perversion. God won't have to drop fire and brimstone on us; we're doing a pretty good job of destroying ourselves. Have mercy on us, Jesus!

It's really sad to think that no matter how things go in the George Zimmerman trial, authorities anticipate violence. Not only if Zimmerman is found innocent (which he should be in view of the lack of evidence to support a 2nd degree murder charge), but in the event he's found guilty and the "celebrating gets out of hand." Sad isn't it?

Think about it. If violence breaks out, the police will NOT be able to protect everybody. Riots happen. Remember New Orleans after Katrina with looters terrorizing neighborhoods. Read more about both police abuse (illegally confiscating guns) and police inability to provide protection to honest citizens. Katrina converted a lot of folks in New Orleans who found out the only people they could depend on for protection were themselves and their concerned neighbors. Read more here.

Note that the video shows a majority of black teens although the news goes out of the way to avoid mentioning it. This is what liberal policies have given us and continue to give us. Driving black dads out of the family resulted in out-of-control youth. More young men turn to gangs. More young men see violence as proof of their manhood.

And now no-fault divorce is doing to the white family what welfare did to minorities. Watch for an increase in violent young people across the board. God help us! Pray for families and help to mentor youngsters. They need good, solid role models!

Michelle is completely tone deaf! There she is enjoying luxury living visiting one of the poorest countries in the world, and she describes her opulent lifestyle as living in a "really nice prison." Now wouldn't most of the people in Tanzania like a prison 1/100th as fine as hers! Oh, but her life is "confining." Hey, so is mine. I'm "confined" to Monday morning laundry, cooking meals, doing dishes, cleaning toilets, running the vacuum,, defrosting the freezer, pulling weeds in my garden, etc.

Oh...but Michelle must be doing all those things too...right?

Give us all a break, Michelle. Your life in the White House has been one long dream of a vacation with jaunts to Martha's Vineyard, Hawaii, touring England, safaris in Africa, skiing in Vale, a night out in New York City, million dollar parties with rock stars, trips to Spain, a Roman holiday, etc., etc. ad nauseum. We should all enjoy such a "prison!" Just give me the "prison" food prepared by the White House chef and I won't ask for anything more. Michelle ought to be singing a different song!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Are you concerned that the food you eat is real and the freshest and healthiest possible? Don't count on an "organic" label. Organic is becoming big business for big companies. Look at one staple in your diet -- the egg. Factory farm egg production that claims to meet "organic" standards is now a big business where a company will have 35,000 chickens in a house with one tiny access door to the outdoors. That's organic?
Check it out here.

If you're lucky like we are to live in the country, look around for the opportunities to buy local and fresh. We get our eggs from a farm where we walk into a shed, open the refrigerator, take out our eggs and leave $2.00 in a cup. The eggs look different with a yoke that's almost orange. The white isn't watery, but thick. And they taste different as well. Yum!

If you don't live in the country look for your local farmers' market. You can buy everything from fresh eggs, produce, and local honey to buffalo meat. And take the kids as well because it's an entertaining outing and an education. Supporting the small family farmer meets the Church's standard of subsidiarity. Start at the lowest level possible, the local family farm. If you buy from local family farmers, you will getting the freshest and the best.

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Comments are moderated. Please be respectful. Argument (in the classical sense) is welcome, however crude, or obscene remarks will not be posted. I am more lenient with ad hominem attacks directed at me (no name-calling) since so many people these days don't seem to know how to engage in a discussion without them. No anti-Catholic comments will be posted. If you are a bigot, go somewhere else.